Dangerous History
by MaraLSky
Summary: After Leia's tutor assigns an essay, Bail Organa must choose his words carefully.


"Is something wrong?"

The small, darked-haired girl looked up from the datapad from which she had been reading at her father's question. The young girl's face was creased with a frown. "Just something I found in the Imperial archives."

"Oh?" Bail Organa's eyebrows arched quizzically at his adopted daughter. "Something you tutor has you reading?"

"No, Dad. Not exactly," thirteen-year-old Leia Organa replied. "It's something I found for myself. She assigned me an essay on a Republic statesbeing of my choice…"

"Ah, I see. And whom did you pick?" He asked, wondering absently if Leia had picked him. Perhaps she had stumbled upon one of the Empire's more colorful lies about him. He wasn't worried if she had; Leia was far too intelligent and well-educated to read such things without questioning them.

She must've sensed what was going through his mind, because she gave him an amused half-smile of such that only a teenager could manage. "Not you, Dad, sorry. I picked a Senator from Naboo." She glanced nervously up at Bail to gauge his reaction; selecting a being from the Emperor's home planet was indeed an odd move in the Royal Alderaanian household.

Bail stared at his daughter, realizing this conversation that had started so innocently might very well be heading into some very dangerous territory. "And which Senator is that?" he asked very slowly.

Leia's large brown eyes studied him carefully. She seemed to be weighing something in her mind, and it was no wonder. Bail and the Queen had been grooming the girl as a diplomat since she could talk, and one thing diplomats were skilled in doing was reading people: and Bail knew that despite his own training as a diplomat that his body language was sending out obvious signals of his unease. He quickly relaxed his limbs at his side, trying to maintain a relaxed pose. But Bail knew that this child had something that even a trained diplomat couldn't thwart: an untrained, but powerful connection to the Force.

After a long moment of silence, she answered. "You might have known her; she apparently served up until the time Palpatine declared himself Emperor. Padme Naberrie Amidala."

"We were acquainted," Bail hedged, knowing that Leia would no doubt sense it if he told her an outright lie. "Why did you decide to write about her?"

Leia's eyes widened with a determination Bail had once seen in a very similar pair of eyes thirteen years prior. She was obviously resolute to defend her choice to her adoptive father. "Because she was an amazing woman," she said with obvious admiration for the deceased Senator. "She fought for her people as Queen, and fought for her beliefs in the Senate, despite the threats to her life from those who oppose her. I only hope I can someday be as strong and brave as her."

Bail nodded in agreement. The girl's description was a fitting one for his old friend, and was made even more so coming from the girl who uttered it. "She was all those things, and more, Leia. Do not let the fact she hailed for the same planet as the Emperor deceive you; not that I believe it has. But what troubles you, Princess?"

Leia gestured to the datapad. "This. It says…she died in service to the Emperor, sacrificing her own life and that of her unborn child to the 'good of the galaxy'." The girl threw the datapad down on the formchair's silky cushion. "I cannot believe a woman like her would support him, let alone risk her life and her baby's for him."

Bail was silent for a long moment, marveling in the lies that the Empire unabashedly told its citizens. Of course, one could perhaps say they told the truth, from a certain point of view. There was little doubt that Padmé's death aided in the completion of Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side, and could therefore be considered a "service" to the Emperor. He wondered if Darth Vader knew what had been written of his lover. Of course, from a brainwashed Imperial's point of view, the biography would seem nothing less than complimentary. Bail put a hand on her shoulder. "Let me assure you, Leia, that Senator Amidala did no such thing. Yes, there was a time when she supported Palpatine—there was a time when I did as well. But he deceived us all. Not just the Senate—the entire galaxy, even the Jedi, were fooled by him until it was too late."

"Then how did she die?" Leia asked. "The datacards Madam Virok gave me about her only said she died in the first year of the Empire. This is the only source that gives me any information on her death, and you say it's a lie. You say you knew her—do _you _know how she died?"

Bail hesitated. Giving her any sort of information on the fate of Padmé Amidala could be dangerous. But the only thing that would be more dangerous than that was to ignite farther curiosity about the woman, and refusing to divulge any more information would no doubt do that. She had clearly latched on to the legacy of her secret mother, and Bail fervently wished that Obi-wan Kenobi was here to ask if this might just be the will of the Force.

"I know a bit. I know she was…betrayed. By someone she loved very much."

Leia's eyes widened. "Her husband?"

Bail held back a groan. "I don't know if he was her husband or not, but yes, the father of the child."

"Who was he?"

This had gone much too close to heart of the matter, and Bail knew he couldn't answer this last question. Someday, Leia would meet her twin, who knew the secret of their father's name, if not his current identity. "Leia, I really cannot tell you more than I already have." That, at least, was the truth. "I'm happy you admire Senator Amidala, but the circumstances of her death are something a young girl like you should not have to know yet."

"It's _history_, Dad," Leia said stubbornly.

"History that is treacherous, and can still harm those who learn of it," Bail replied firmly. "This history is still useful in the present to some as more than a lesson learned. You are not ready yet."

Leia pursed her lips, her eyes holding a gilt of anger and sadness. Bail blinked back tears—she looked just like her mother. _"So this is how liberty dies—with thunderous applause,"_ Padme had said, the exact same expression in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I can't, Leia. There is some information from that time that is still dangerous," he said softly, sitting down next to her on the sofa. "But I am happy you picked Senator Amidala; there is no one more worthy of your admiration. Since I knew her, I will answer any questions about her and her political career that I can."

Leia looked slightly mollified at these words. "Thank you, Dad." She ripped the Imperial archieve datacard out of her datapad and tossed it across the room into a waste receptacle. She pulled some others, apparently the ones her tutor had given her, out of her pocket and looked at them with wide eyes. "I wish I could have met her," she said wistfully.

Bail fought to speak; there was a catch in his throat. "Yes," he said quietly. "I wish you could have met her too."


End file.
